The invention relates broadly to the field of nut cracking devices, and more particularly to a device that uses mechanical advantage and other features to make the cracking of nuts easier and safer.
It is well known that consumable nuts have a hard shell that must be opened in order to remove the nut seed, which is also referred to as the “flesh”, “nut” and/or “meat”. Examples include English and black walnuts, pecans, Brazil nuts, almonds, hazelnuts and more. The hard outer shell may be broken, shattered, pried apart or otherwise separated from the seed in order to consume the seed.
Most humans cannot remove nut shells with their bare hands, with the common exception of peanuts. Therefore, most nuts require one to use some form of tool to remove the shell. Some existing tools for removing the shell of a nut are simple, such as the nut pick, which is a sharpened rod, and the pliers-like nutcracker. The latter tool has two handles that are hingedly attached at adjacent ends to one another or to a third member that separates the two handles by about one inch. In both examples, such a conventional nutcracker uses the force applied by the user's hand(s) to crush the shell, at which point the user may remove the seed from the shell. No mechanical advantage is available from the pliers-like nutcracker other than small leverage.
Common nuts are so hard that many people cannot generate sufficient force to break the shells even with conventional nut cracking tools. For example, black walnuts have an unusually hard outer shell that makes breaking the shells extremely difficult, particularly if one wishes to salvage the seed in a relatively intact condition.
The need exists for a nut cracking device that permits an average person to crack a hard-shelled nut while maintaining the contents thereof intact.